I'm better!

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 169 lbs

This Time’s Weight: 165 lbs

This Time’s Loss: 4 lbs

Total Loss: 26 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 0.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 0.0

Total Hours of Zumba: 7

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After a few weeks of illness I am finally almost recovered which coincided with the return of the acupuncturist so yesterday I had my weighing again after 3 weeks. I was absolutely fearing the worst because as I mentioned before I was on some meds that have weight gain as a side effect. So yesterday morning, contrary to what I normally do, I didn't weigh at home (I always do that to have an indication as my weight on the doctor's scale is never the same as my weight at home, it's always more at the doctor's) and went in blind expecting a stern lecture because if I had gained weight there definitely was going to be one since I'd gotten one a few weeks back when I didn't lose as much weight as I should have.

So I embarked upon a trip on public transport hell. I really want hubby to start working from home again on Thursdays as he always did because going to the doctor by public transport is excruciating, but hey he's the one bringing in the doe at the moment so I can't complain to hard ;)

Back to the topic at hand: Finally, I stepped on the scale with shaky knees and...low and behold...I hadn't gained...I'd lost...

Okay it wasn't the 8 lbs I was supposed to have lost in these three weeks, but I did lose 4 so although I'm still behind on schedule it's not disastrous. As I'm practically recovered I am going to pick up on the exercise again too because slacker that was of course the first thing I dropped like a hot potato the moment I started to feel sick. I have a deal with hubby that I'll be starting Zumba again as of coming Tuesday!

So starting next week I hope to be here again full force, tweeting on #twitloss, blogging about more than being sick and commenting on your posts!

Hugs,
Pearl

Celebrate!

Sorry everyone! This was supposed to post yesterday. I was out of touch and had no idea it didn't publish as scheduled. -Dara

That is what I am doing today! Celebrating. I am celebrating my 2lb loss since last Tuesday. I am also celebrating the total 4lb loss over the last few weeks. (See my ticker! It moved!)

So, obviously eating as a form of celebration is out. What's a girl to do? Well, for me. I bought a book. I picked up Mary Jo Putney's Never Less Than A Lady it is the 2nd book in the Lost Lords series. I got the first one free on Amazon's Kindle site and so had to get this one!

Last week was a pretty good week. Clearly laying off the booze is helping. Although I did slip Friday and have one (large) beer at dinner. But hey one beer in one week isn't so bad. I am pretty happy about it. I have also been using the diet shakes more and not snacking in between. Probably a key factor in my success. Now if I can get my but back in the workout rhythm I think I can capitalize on this start.

My darling husband has even commented he could tell I have lost some weight, so it's a win all the way around!

Now, what I want to know is, as you are working toward your own weight loss (or other) goal, how will you celebrate? Are you planning something different than you might normally as a celebration?

Queen of the Slackers? Yup, that would be me!

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 188 lbs

This Time’s Weight: 186 lbs

This Time’s Loss: 2 lbs

Total Loss: 6 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 0.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.0

Total Hours of Zumba: 2.5

You see the hours of Zumba this week? No? Are you sure you don’t see them? That’s right…that’s because I didn’t Zumba this week.
As I said last week in my post: I forewarned you. I do not like to work out and in week three I have already fallen off the wagon where working out is concerned.
I can use the excuse of being awefully busy, busy, busy but I can also be honest and say to myself that there is ALWAYS time to squeeze in 20/30 minutes of Zumba. No I must face the fact that I am a SLACKER!
I cling to every excuse not to work out and even Zumba which is so much like dancing has fallen victim to my lazy-ass attitude towards working out.

Okay now that I have acknowledged the problem I know what to do: I need to get back on the exercise wagon and I have asked hubby to help me: He has orders to make sure I Zumba tomorrow so I can get into the groove again of my daily work-outs. I.CAN.DO.THIS!

On another matter I had a day with BFF today (which is the reason this post is so late). It was something we'd planned before I even had an inkling of starting this 0-calories diet and when she heard I was doing this she asked if it wasn't better to cancel as we had a lunch planned as a highlight in our day. I thought long and hard and then decided that I didn't want the dieting to mess up my social life or to control it. So I said to her we weren't cancelling. I would make it work and I did!
I took my broth with me and decided I'd take that and a lot of water, tea and diet coke if I didn't find a way to eat something that wouldn't interfere with my diet.
When we got to the place where we were supposed to have lunch, I looked long and hard at the menu and there was a lot of good stuff on it and I was really in doubt of what to do.
Finally I decided to break the three-week fast and order a tuna wrap. It was the most healthy I could find on the menu and I ordered it without any guilt about eating something.

Well let me tell you after three weeks of broth, curds, water, tea and diet soda, I thought I would devour the wrap and end up wanting, craving, more. You can't imagine my surprise that I was able to eat only half of the wrap, which was delicious by the way and it took me an hour...SERIOUSLY: AN HOUR! to finish that half of a wrap...When I ate half I just couldn't eat anymore and I have absolutely no craving for food, so as of tomorrow it's back to my regular diet without any problems.
And I survived a day of socializing without any problems!



Till next week!

Hugs,
Pearl

Being a woman sometimes really sucks

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 188 lbs

This Time’s Weight: 186 lbs

This Time’s Loss: 2 lbs

Total Loss: 6 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.0

Last Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.5

Total Hours of Zumba: 2.5

First off I want to offer some my #twitloss buddies some mental support and apologize for not being there for them as much as I wanted this week. Reading and reviewing obligations and off line life just sucked me up this week and I expect it to stay that way for a few weeks. But remember: I may not be here or on Twitter that much but in spirit I am rooting for you all and sending positive, healthy, weight-reducing vibes to all of you. Reading the other #twitloss posts this week made me realize mine was pretty uneventful besides being very busy.

The not eating part is still going very well and I did lose weight but just not as much as I was expecting and that’s partly because I slacked in the work-out department. I forewarned everyone: I detest working out. So every opportunity I have to not work out, I seize with both hands. This week it was one day of cramps (Tuesday but I’ll get back to that later) and one day of killer headache (Wednesday) that led me to just not work out yesterday…But I had a serious talk with myself and tonight before bed I will do my Zumba work-out and it will be the Sculpt and Tone torture one, just to show myself what will happen if I fall of the wagon again…

So Tuesday I had a day of cramps and this leads me to my second reason I did not lose as many lbs as I was expecting. As my title states: It sucks being a woman and being all women here (at least that’s what I think, if there are any men following this blog I think this is the moment to stop reading my post now) I think you all know what I mean. It started in the weekend. I started craving foods, bad foods, really, really bad foods. Monday same story: I was going crazy with wanting to eat and I just didn’t understand why. And then Tuesday I discovered why: Aunt Flo paid me a visit and she brought me cramps. Aunt Flo tried to sabotage me, just 2 weeks into my diet. First with the food craving, mind you, I did not give in and stuck to my water, diet coke, broth and curds but still, every time I smelled food (either cooking for hubby or he eating his food) I would get that craving. Then with the cramps so I couldn’t work out and to finish me off, when I went for my weighing on Thursday (yesterday) I was feeling so bloated I felt like that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…Can’t remember her name, but you all know who I mean, the one who swelled up like a blueberry. And when I got on the scale I was so afraid, but I still lost 2 lbs.

Sometimes I really wish I were a man, because men don’t get visits from Aunt Flo. But only sometimes because other times being a woman really ain’t that bad!

Hugs,
Pearl

TGIF - I survived the first week

Starting Weight: 192 lbs

Goal Weight: 132 lbs

Last Time’s Weight: 192 lbs

This Time’s Weight*: 188 lbs

This Time’s Loss*: 4 lbs

Total Loss: 4 lbs

This Week’s Hours of Zumba: 1.5

Total Hours of Zumba: 1.5

*These numbers will be my bi-weekly numbers as I go to the doctor to weigh every 2 weeks and my scale at home always says something other than the doctor's.

So how did my first week of #twitloss go?
Well with ups and downs but I am happy to say it ended high! As I wrote on my page I am starting the battle against overweight with a 0-calorie diet, acupuncture and Zumba.

The 0-calorie diet means I can only have:
Minimum of 2 liters of fluids (this can be coffee, tea, water and diet sodas, NO juice)
Vitamin/mineral supplement pills (3 a day)
3 cups of broth (NO soup)
1 spoon of vegetable oil
300 grams of yogurt or 150 grams of curds

And that’s it folks!

The acupuncture is to keep the feelings of hunger/obsession with food away and I must say it helps. I had one tough day this week and almost grabbed food to comfort me but then took a step back and kept my eye on the end prize (losing this damn overweight) and took a glass of water and a cup of broth instead. I felt like I won a war after that moment. In the past I have never been able to overcome the need to comfort myself with food.

I must say the not eating part is going well for me. I already suspected not eating is easier for me than eating just healthy stuff of little amounts of food but it’s going better than I thought, save for that one tough day I had. I feel great, I have energy, I don’t feel hungry or faint. I can be around food, handle food (I cook for my hubby) and not have the inclination to eat it. If it stays like this, keeping this diet up for a few months will be less of a chore than I thought it would be.

Another shocker for me is finding out I am looking forward to doing my daily exercise, Zumba. Okay, I’ve just been doing it for 3 days…so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
I abhor sports, I loathe exercise but I love to dance and in Zumba I have found a combination of dance and sports that is working for me. Still this is the hardest part for me, every morning I get up and have to motivate and force myself to put the dvd in and start excercising. Once I'm at it I really enjoy myself but it's taking that step to start that I hope will be easier the course of time.

In closing this week I want to thank all the ladies of the #twitloss group (whether on the blog or just on twitter). Knowing there are more people battling their weight is all the support I could ask for and it’s helping keep me motivated to see it through to the end this time! Couldn't do it without you guys!

Hugs,
Pearl

Oh and got a little something especially for Danielle, on her request: